SISTER DEATH (2023)

Available streaming on Netflix!
Directed by Paco Plaza.
Written by Jorge Guerricaechevarría, Paco Plaza.
Starring Aria Bedmar, Maru Valdivielso, Luisa Merelas, Chelo Vivares, Sara Roch, Olimpia Roch, Adriana Camarena, Martina Delgado, Claudia Fernández Arroyo, Almudena Amor, Arantza Vélez, Ainoa Hernández, Antonio Duque, Daniela Casas, Guillermo Zavala, Marcelo Carvajal, Mónica Castillo, Pablo Guisa Koestinger, Sandra Escacena as Veronica and Consuelo Trujillo as Sister Death.
Check out the trailer here!!

In 1937, young girl named Narcisa was said to see a divine vision during a solar eclipse and was looked at as a great holy achievement by the devout in her Spanish village. Ten years later, Narcisa (Aria Bedmar) trains to be a nun at a convent and is looked at with great honor by most of the rest of the nuns, yet some question her worthiness of such praise. But upon arrival, Narcisa begins seeing and hearing strange things around the convent. And as another solar eclipse approaches, Narcisa fears that something horrible will happen to the convent and the young children at the convent.

I am a huge Paco Plaza fan. Though he is not a household name in most horror arenas, he has been responsible for some downright terrifying horror films. [REC], [REC2], [REC3], A CHRISTMAS TALE, last year’s LA ABUELA, and of course, VERONICA; all of them truly scary films peppered with a master’s hand for suspense and tension. With VERONICA showing up on Netflix a while back and most likely receiving huge numbers once discovered on the streaming service, it is a no brainer that Netflix would pony up the funds for a prequel. Sister Death being a memorable character in VERONICA, she is the likeliest of candidate to do a movie on. I guess if it works for THE CONJURING universe, I guess Netflix feels they can build the same kind of franchise.

Unfortunately, SISTER DEATH pales in comparison to VERONICA in mostly every way. Don’t get me wrong. The film is impeccably shot and the lead, Aria Bedmar, the rest of the actresses playing the nuns, and even the child actors are all very convincing in their roles. There are numerous scenes that have a great build and a jarring payoff. Though it didn’t get the big budget/theatrical release of THE NUN movies, I do feel that SISTER DEATH proves to be more effective than those films. But that’s a pretty low bar to set, if you’re talking quality cinema. It is nice that they brought back actresses Sandra Escacena and Consuelo Trujillo from the VERONICA movie for a shot bit in SISTER DEATH, but honestly it all feels like a mid-tier budget effort at a CONJURING franchise more than anything else.

I think my issue with SISTER DEATH is that most of the horrifying scenes have been done before. There are all kinds of strange visions and ominous omens that Sister Narcisa encounters as the eclipse nears. The children of the convent see the ghost of a young girl roaming the dark halls as well, offering up some moments as experienced through the eyes of children that took be back to the paranormal encounters seen in both VERONICA and THE CONJURING series. There’s the confession scene. The rites and rituals. The sermons that can be seen as equally holy or unholy. But again, these moments were all too familiar to really give me much of a start.

A typical Paco Plaza film is better than most horror out there, so don’t take this criticism as a hard knock against SISTER DEATH. If you haven’t seen as many nunny horror films as I have before. Just in the last few years, we’ve had THE NUN, THE NUN II, CONSECRATION, AGNES, not to mention all of the low budget nun horror films that are a dime a dozen on Tubi. I simply feel the often-used nunsploitation subgenre of horror is overplayed these days and its got to be something really special to stand out. Yes, the habits the nuns wear are creepy. Yes, the fact that someone is able to offer their entire life to become a nun and give up a life full of temptation and sin is strange in this apathetic day and age. And yes, maybe going to Catholic schools really can be scary to young impressionable minds. SISTER DEATH hits all of the nun horror tropes and adds quite a few potent jump scares. It’s just all been done before and with new nun movies releasing soon, including IMMACULATE, the new Sidney Sweeney vehicle, it appears it’ll be done all over again, again real soon.